Figures suggest users are making switch from Windows XP to Windows 7

The number of users of Microsoft's Windows XP dropped rapidly from December 2011 to this month, according to figures from StatCounter Global Stats, as users continue to migrate to Windows 7.

While the number of users on Windows 7 passed the number of XP users on a global basis in September to October last year, the gap continues to widen, with the ten-year old operating system recording a drop in global market share of 3.5% from December 2011 to January 2012.

Microsoft began urging users to switch to Windows 7 from XP in July last year

Usage of XP has fallen from 48.8% of all online operating systems in January 2011 to 32.9% in January 2012. At the same time, usage of Windows 7 has gone from 27.7% one year ago, to account for 44.5% of all operating systems today.

The market share for the unpopular Windows Vista has slipped by around 4.5% from 15.1% to 11.4% of the worldwide market, while rival Mac OSx has grown slightly, from 6.6% of market share, to 7.5% market share today.

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The situation was similar in countries across the Middle East, with most markets showing an upswing in Windows 7, which now has around 50% market share, with XP in the low 30 to high 20 percentage brackets. Vista share is generally lower, in the mid-single digits, with Mac OSX ranking about the same.

Both Bahrain and Kuwait saw usage of XP drop by around 5% from December 2011 to January 2012, with steady gains for Windows 7.

Iraq had the highest reported proportion of Windows 7 usage, with 67.4% of users, while the UAE had just 49.5% of users on Windows 7 compared to 30.9% on Windows XP. The UAE also showed higher penetration of Windows Vista, accounting for 10.8% of the market, although this was down 6.5% points from January last year.

Only in Egypt was Windows XP still dominant, with 58.9% market share, against Windows 7 on 36.99%.